Rishi Sunak was confronted by the heart-breaking story of a carer who has been forced to sit in the dark because she can't afford a lightbulb.
In an interview with BBC Breakfast, the Prime Minister was challenged over the cost of living pressures affecting the nation, including a woman called Nikki, from Cornwall.
Presenter Jon Kay said: "She works as a carer, she's on £10.15 an hour and her kitchen is in darkness this week.
"She can't afford a light bulb for the kitchen until her daughter gets paid next week. She's working in social care.
"It's hard to believe that to the UK in 2023, isn't it?"
He told the PM: "You were the Chancellor, you've been Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Now you're Prime Minister. I mean, your fingerprints are all over this economy, aren't they?"
Mr Sunak replied: "I'm actually proud that one of the things we did after I became Prime Minister was make some difficult decisions elsewhere, for example, decided to tax the profits of the largest companies more given the circumstances we're in."
Mr Kay interrupted: "But when you have someone who can't afford a lightbulb..."
The PM replied: "If you just let me explain what we're trying to do to help. We're using that money to help people in those circumstances we're actually putting more money into social care in particular."
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Pressed on how this wasn't helping Nikki, he said: "I want to make sure that we are helping Nikki and Nikki should know we're putting billions of pounds more into social care everywhere, and that will help make sure that she can be well paid.
"We're making sure that Nikki's energy bill is is taken care of by the Government to the tune of about £1500.
"That's really helpful for those on the lowest pay, they're gonna get about 1400 and for those on welfare, for example, and again, I don't know Nikki's situation, I don't know whether she's on Universal Credit or not. If she was she's gonna receive direct help this year of £900."
The PM distanced himself from the anti-foodbank rants of Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson, saying it was "incredibly sad" people were forced to use them but he was grateful to staff running the vital service.
In a wide-ranging interview, he also defended pension tax cuts for the rich unveiled in last week's Budget, which he claimed would help lower waiting lists by letting doctors take on extra hours.
Told that only a hundred doctors a year may stay on due to the change, he said: "There's thousands of doctors that leave the NHS every year; about two-thirds to three-quarters of them have said that they don't provide extra hours.
"It's not just about whether they leave or stay; it's about whether they're doing the extra shifts, because that's what's going to help us get the backlog down."
He added: "The key thing is I want to get the waiting lists down. I think everyone watching who has a family member waiting on NHS waiting lists will want that person - grandmother, grandparent, aunt, uncle - to get that treatment as quickly as possible. Because of this change we're going to be able to do that."
Labour has vowed to reverse the decision to abolish the lifetime allowance and raise the annual pensions allowance, which it says will only benefit the richest 1%.
Today, the party will try to force a vote in the Commons against the move, which it branded “the wrong priority, at the wrong time, for the wrong people”.
